In her natural habitat, before she gives birth the mother pig builds a large nest to protect her young, she is very careful about both the quality of the nest and its location, in some instances she may walk for three to six miles to find a suitable place to construct her nest, taking as long as six hours to do so. Here in this carefully selected secluded place she will give birth to her piglets and protect them after they are born for about two weeks, after which time the new family leave the nest and return to the rest of the herd, over the following twelve weeks the piglets are gradually weaned and begin to eat solid food. The metal frame of the farrowing crate is just centimetres bigger than the sow’s body and severely restricts her movements. She is completely unable to turn around, can scarcely take a step forward or backward and frequently rubs against the bars when standing up and lying down. Beside her cage is a “creep” area for her piglets. The flooring is hard concrete and some form of heating, either mats or more commonly heatlamps, is used as a substitute for the warmth of their mother’s body. The piglets are free to reach the sow’s teats to suckle but she is prevented from moving close to them and cleaning them by the bars of the cage. Her piglets will be taken away when they are 3 - 4 weeks old and she will never see them again. She will normally be reinpregnated a week later and the whole sorry cycle begins again. She will be returned to the farrowing crate a week before giving birth. A sows pregnancy lasts around four months, this means they are forced into the farrowing crate for 28-35 days every five months until, usually at around five years old, they are no longer commercially productive and are sent for slaughter. Her babies will be slaughtered at 6 months of age. Pigs can naturally live for 15 years. Approximately 9 million pigs are slaughtered every year in the UK. The industry will tell you that the farrowing crate prevents the mother from crushing her babies but studies have shown that this is not true. Piglets are frequently crushed in farrowing crates as can be seen on this video taken by Hillside on a recent investigation. youtube/watch?v=vyCOQEXrdv0 95% of UK pigs are finished (fattened) in sheds and RSPCA and Red Tractor approve farrow crates. All pigs regardless of whether they are factory farmed or not will then suffer the horror of the slaughterhouse at 6 months of age.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 17:31:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015